Looking to see if anyone is interested in a light-hearted Boy's Own Adventure* kind of pulp sci-fi game, with simple mechanics and general daftness all round, where the good guys win because Johnny Martian doesn't understand the rules of cricket.

If you have some life to waste at TV Tropes, look up Raygun Gothic, George Lucas Throwback and the film Bullshot, with pretty much every reference therein, for more genre tropes to play with.

Setting:
1930s SF. Thirties era aesthetic in politics, clothing and projected technology, set in far future (2011!) but with backward looking ideals (Empire, Pluck, Public Schools and lashings of ginger beer). King Zagrox of Mars, green-skinned, dome-headed Martian ruler of a pseudo-fascist dictatorship with plans to conquer the whole solar system with his fleet of saucer ships. Blue-skinned, four armed warrior women ride dinosaurs through the jungles of Venus. Mysterious races beyond, perhaps intelligent blue gasses from Pluto who speak only in bad poetry. Earth is protected by the brave men and women of the Space Ranger Corps, culled from the finest that each nation has to offer (but led, naturally, by the valiant British**).

Potential story arcs:
Warrior Queen of Venus, Deathray of Doom, Warlords of Saturn, The Scurrilous Scheme of Doctor Awful.

Post your interest, and I'll transform this thread by the power of SCIENCE! into a character creation thread.

*Girls are allowed too, as long as they promise not to talk about dresses and kissing and stuff.

The rules are like a super-light version of GURPS or FUDGE. Here's what I had in mind:

All characters start with two “Good” skills, one “Great” skill and one “Poor” skill. Optionally, you can add another Good Skill by taking a Rubbish skill. Skills are loosely defined, although you are honour bound to make Poor and Rubbish skills something that might actually be a handicap (so no Rubbish: Knitting) for example.

Added refinements: Degree of success may be a factor. If you only need an Average success, for example, but your total is high enough for Hard success, then you may achieve more than you hoped for.

Damage and combat is fairly abstracted. Using the above examples, if a Martian footsoldier fired his ray gun at Squiffy, Squiffy could use his Accidentally Avoid Trouble skill to oppose the roll. He just happens to notice a rare example of a Martian Poisonous Daffodil and ducks to examine it at the moment the footsoldier fires. Andrei, on the other hand, has no defensive skills to speak of. The footsoldier would have to make a straight attack roll based on range. If he missed, though, Andrei could then employ his wrestling skill to crush the little martian.

Wounds etc. are abstracted. The heroes can't get killed outright, but a good shot might incapacitate them, and a really good one might give them a wound that could be fatal if not treated. Goons tend to go down on a single hit, henchmen and named bad guys tend to be a bit more durable. If you want a really tough hero then give them a Shrug Off Damage skill or similar.

Notes: There are two types of Martian. High Martians are the Mars Attacks kind of green, bulbous headed sadistic types. Low Martians have golden skin and little antennae on their heads. They are ruled by the High Martians.

Robots have the aesthetic of the clanks from Girl Genius, or Forbidden Planet and Lost in Space.

*Crass racial stereotypes are part of the genre, and can be overturned if you like!

If memory serves it was in production around 1982 or '83, meaning I was still in high school - so it's probably not as good as I remember. I may have to see if it's to be had on DVD . . . just to check the quality, of course!

"Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats."
-- H.L. Mencken

If memory serves it was in production around 1982 or '83, meaning I was still in high school - so it's probably not as good as I remember. I may have to see if it's to be had on DVD . . . just to check the quality, of course!

Golden Monkey definitely aired in the UK (although they probably showed only half the episodes, out of order) in a wave of post-Indiana Jones rip-offs (see also Bring 'Em Back Alive with Bruce Boxleitner).

It probably *wasn't* as good as memory suggests, being a product of Donald P Bellisarius (later Magnum and Airwolf), but it starred Roddy McDowell which is always good for a touch of class.

It also inspired Disney's TaleSpin, which was pretty much a direct rip-off (King Louie as a bar owner in TaleSpin, McDowell as Bon Chance Louie in Golden Monkey). They didn't have a one-eyed dog, though...